Yu Televentures, the online-only sub brand of No 2 smartphone maker Micromax, plans to metamorphose into an Internet company and has taken the first step by offering services integrated in its smartphones, which is a global first.

Rahul Sharma, founder of Yu Televentures, tells ET that future investments will target segments such as entertainment and health, hyper local and utilities, all of which will be used to build an ecosystem of services to be integrated with its devices. Yu is now working on providing a mobile wallet, which can be used to pay for those services. Edited excerpts:

Where do you see Yu two-three years from now?

In future, we will become a services company, an Internet company. It will be a business of connected devices in the connected world.

For Yu, services will be the main differentiator while hardware or devices will be an enabler. With these services, we are creating an intuitive and integrated mobile discovery platform with integrations across categories. The time is not far when you will see us making all kinds of devices and services people use or may use or wear in daily life.

Yu has invested in several apps and service providers in the past, many of which have been used in ‘Around Yu’. What are the target apps or areas where further investments will be made?

We are already offering experiences across travel including cabs, flights and hotels, food and shopping. Going forward, our focus areas include entertainment and health, hyper local and utilities, which are aligned with the needs of our consumers.

What will the mobile wallet look like? What are the possible features wallet users can expect from Yu or Micromax?

We are working towards offering an integrated experience to our consumers through services on their device and Around Yu is an effort in that direction. Payment is the last gateway and that has to be a natural road ahead.

What’s the road map for Around Yu services for existing Yu devices? What kind of integration can we see between Yu and Micromax for expanding the range of these services?

We are very excited to become the first player in the world to offer such services to consumers. We have tried to simplify the most important and common need of consumers by offering Around Yu as it brings the best of everything on their device through a simplified integration. At this stage, Around Yu will be available to Yutopia users, our first flagship that we recently launched.

Will Yu be taken offline in 2016? Do you see a need for such a move?

We are an online-first brand and it’s exciting to emerge as the leading online brand within a year of launch. Being online does give you a wider reach and audience.

Will Yu be taken to other global markets as well?

While we would definitely look at international markets, but it would be too early to commit to a timeline for this.

An investment of Rs 300 crore has been announced towards setting up three plants, and making in India. What's the capacity that these investments will create and in how much time?

We have been the first brand to look at India as a manufacturing hub for mobile phone ecosystem from last five years. We are already manufacturing all Yu phones from our Rudrapur plant, and see the numbers going up as we look at making all the three units functional over the next 12-18 months.